I was folding laundry when the school’s number flashed across my phone.
“Ma’am, there’s been an incident with Noah,” the secretary said. “A physical altercation. Please come right away.”
I drove faster than I should have.
My son was seven years old and the gentlest child I had ever known.
I couldn’t imagine him being involved in a fight.
“Please come right away.”
Noah had never even raised his hands to another child.
***
My heels tapped too loudly as I rushed toward the principal’s office.
The door was half-open.
I pushed it the rest of the way and stopped.
For a moment, I didn’t understand what I was looking at.
Noah was sitting in a small wooden chair against the wall, his cheeks blotchy from crying.
Beside him sat another boy, and the sight of him took my breath away.
I rushed toward the principal’s office.
The same upturned nose as Noah.
The same dark eyes.
The same gap between his front teeth.
He even had the same small scar above his left eyebrow!
The room narrowed until there were only those two faces, identical and impossible, blinking up at me.
I didn’t know it yet, but I’d just stumbled into a secret I was never supposed to uncover.
He even had the same small scar above his left eyebrow!
“Ma’am.” Principal Hayes stood. “Please, sit down. We’re still waiting on the other parent.”
I lowered myself into the chair across from the boys.
I couldn’t look away from the stranger who wore my son’s face.
“Mom, I didn’t start it,” Noah whispered, his bottom lip trembling. “He has my compass. He said his dad gave it to him.”
“Your compass?” I murmured. “The one your dad gave you for your birthday?”
The stranger who wore my son’s face.
Noah nodded.
I turned to the other child.
He was watching me with cautious, careful eyes.
“What’s your name, honey?”
“Lucas,” he said quietly.
Even his voice sounded so similar to Noah’s.
“Lucas.” I tried to smile. “That’s a nice name. How old are you?”
“Seven.”
“How old are you?”
Seven… Same as Noah.
How was it possible for two children to be so alike?
I pressed my hands flat against my knees to keep them from shaking.
I told myself that coincidences happened.
I told myself there had to be an innocent explanation.
Then the office door clicked open behind me.
How was it possible for two children to be so alike?
I turned toward the sound.
A woman walked in.
She was in her mid-thirties and wore her dark hair pulled back.
She saw me and stopped dead.
Her jaw clenched and her eyes went wide.
She clearly knew exactly who I was and was caught off-guard by my presence.
I took a closer look at her, and that’s when it hit me.
She saw me and stopped dead.
I knew her from somewhere.
I searched my memories.
She stepped inside and turned away slightly to close the door.
When she turned back to look at the principal, I recognized her all at once.
She was a nurse.
She’d brought me medication three days after Noah was born.
I recognized her all at once.
She had smiled at me and said, “You have a beautiful boy. Not every woman is given the gift of having a child.”
It made me cry at the time.
I looked at Lucas, then back to her.
Was she his mother?
The boy didn’t look like her at all.
Was she his mother?
The principal cleared his throat. “Thank you both for coming. Now, let’s address why we’re here.”
Noah and Lucas both looked down immediately.
Principal Hayes sighed. “Apparently the disagreement started over these.”
He opened a drawer and set a brass compass on the desk.
I recognized the compass immediately.
Mark had given it to Noah.
“Apparently the disagreement started over these.”
Principal Hayes gestured to the compass. “Both boys claim this belongs to them.”
